Launching the Congress campaign for the Bihar Assembly polls, Rahul Gandhi today made a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he looked after the interest of only a few "suited-booted" people and reminded him that Mahatma Gandhi had shed his "suit-boot" for the sake of the poor.
"A suit-boot barrister Mahatama Gandhi shed it for the sake of the poor, but Narendra Modi, who claims to be a tea-seller, went for Rs 15 lakh suit after becoming Prime Minister," Rahul Gandhi told a rally here in Bihar's West Champaran district to mark the 125th Birth Anniversary of dalit icon B R Ambedkar.
The occasion served as the launch pad for the poll campaign by the grand secular alliance of Congress, JD(U) and RJD in the Bihar elections. The rally is the first major show by the alliance after the announcement of the five-phase Bihar Assembly poll.
Before this, the secular alliance had organised a "swabhiman rally" at Patna on August 30 in which Sonia Gandhi had shared dias with Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar.
Though Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD President Lalu Prasad gave a miss to the function, K C Tyagi and Tejaswi Yadav, son of Lalu Prasad, represented the two parties in the function organised by the Congress.
Earlier, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had met Rahul Gandhi at the Patna Airport before he came to Ramnagar by a helicopter.
Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Congress general secretary C P Joshi and Haryana Congress leader Ajay Yadav, who is also a relative of the RJD President, were present in the programme, which was aimed at giving a message of unity among secular alliance partners for the crucial Bihar poll.
Mahatama Gandhi had launched his satyagrah for the cause of farmers from Bitharwa, 12 km from Ramnagar, in 1917 against the British rule.
The Congress vice-president made several references to "elitist culture" promoted by the Prime Minister in support of his "suit-boot ki sarkar" barb.
Taking a swipe at the PM over his talk of employment generation and Swachh Bharat (clean India drive), Gandhi said Modi chose to discuss these issues with a group of "suit boot wearing friends."
"If you are honest towards the cause, go to safai karamchari and unemployed youths instead of making tall claims about employment generation and cleanliness in the company of elitist suit-boot wearing friends," he said.
Asking people not to be lured by "false promises" made by Modi like he did in the last general elections, he alleged, "After winning the election, his suit-boot wearing friends from Delhi and Gujarat would come to Bihar for land of farmers under the new Land Bill and they would be obliged by the NDA government.
